(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the transferral of information from man to machine. More specifically, this invention is directed to data entry devices which facilitate communication between a human operator and a machine for various purposes. Accordingly, the general objects of the present invention are to provide novel and improved methods and apparatus of such character.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
The most commonly known and widely utilized data entry device for transferring information from man to a machine is the keyboard. Thus, it is well known to record information electronically employing, as the data entry device, typewriter or adding machine keyboards. Conventional typewriter keyboards and adding machine keyboards are, for all practical purposes, limited in utility respectively to the generation of text and the manipulation of numbers. The recent advent of inexpensive data processing apparatus, and particularly the general availability of computation devices known as microprocessors, has greatly increased the need for data entry and recording for many functions in addition to text generation or numerical manipulation. It is also to be observed that at least some formal training or considerable experience is required in order for an individual to operate a typewriter or adding machine with any degree of proficiency. There are many individuals, particularly in the medical and other professions, who may have neither the time nor the temperment to acquire adequate skills to use previously available keyboards. Thus, for a great many people who do not have keyboard training, experience and/or proficiency, there is a substantial and long-standing need of a technique which will facilitate communication with data processing equipment.
Examples of environments wherein a data entry device of enhanced flexibility and ease of use, when compared to a typewriter or adding machine keyboard, is required are the operation of point of sale devices, inventory entry and retrieval, automated customer operated banking and self-ticketing machines, computerized voting machines, teaching machines, etc. All of the aforementioned activities require data input and recording from man to machine and, to be practical, also require the allocation to single input devices of functional data which, if inputed in the form of a typewritten text, would necessitate a few to a substantial number of characters. Efforts to enhance the flexibility and thus utility of keyboard type data entry devices have largely been concentrated on the fabrication of large keyboards which have sufficient space adjacent each key or on the key top to identify the functions assigned to the keys. Such large keyboards have characteristically had the disadvantages of requiring a large area for designating the functions of the keys and difficulty in modifying the function labels. Furthermore, good human factors design requires that different groupings of functions be separated into clusters and it is difficult to modify groupings of keys on conventional or large scale keyboards in response to changes in requirements or differences in the functions to be performed at a given device or at the same device at different times or by different operators. Similarly, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to provide additional space for labeling of given areas by removing keys which are not needed for given applications.
As is implicit in the preceding remarks, there has been a long-standing desire in the art to provide a data entry device characterized by ease of operability, small or modest size, and "programmability" in the sense that the functions associated with each data input area and also the labeling associated with each such area are easily changeable. In addition, to be commercially successful, particularly in view of its prospect of being used by a plurality of different operators and also being subject to movement from place to place, the signal generating portions of the data entry device must be characterized by a high degree of reliability. The requisite reliability weighs against the use of complex circuitry and spring loaded input devices or other members which may be subject to degradation or failure as the result of continued flexing. Also, accuracy requirements dictate that the means for generating electrical signals in response to operator inputs be infallibly responsive to the operator's manipulative actions while being substantially immune to influences other than a deliberate act on the part of the operator.
A principal deficiency of previously available data entry devices resides in the fact that they do not have the capability of providing direct feedback to the operator indicative that an input signal generator, for example a certain switch with a given meaning, has been operated. There have been previous data entry devices which employed a pressure-sensing surface activated by a writing pen. In such devices reliance is made on the marks made by such pens to give limited feedback of questionable accuracy to the operator that certain points have been activated. To enhance the knowledge that the system has been activated, some prior data entry devices incorporate audio feedback. There is, however, no means of knowing with certainty that a given item has been entered.
A further data entry technique which is believed to warrant brief discussion is the light pen. For purposes of feedback to the operation of data entry, cathode ray tubes and light-emitting diode arrays have been used with so-called "light pens" which are sensitive to the light generated. Data is entered by pointing the light-sensing pen at the display and periodically scanning a light point faster than the eye can detect. The point at which the pen is directed is then permanently illuminated. A cathode ray tube display is, of course, large and bulky and the problem with the light pen, common to the means of lighting the display, is that it is sensitive to stray light. Accordingly, a mechanical switch is usually incorporated in the pen thereby adding to the maintenance problem.
For data entry functions it is also important for the operator to be able to review the information that has been entered for a given data entry sequence or transaction. At the present time this is possible only through the use of ancillary equipment employing devices such as the aforementioned cathode ray tube displays which are set apart from the data entry device; such ancillary equipment being of large size, expensive, relatively complex and requiring the operator to continually change his field of vision. Restated, present data entry devices do not incorporate positive means which enables operator review of a given data entry sequence or transaction consisting of a plurality of individual pieces of data. The provision of audio feedback, as discussed above, is clearly inadequate for such purposes; particularly in a noisy environment or when two data entry devices are within the hearing of both operators.
Continuing with a general discussion of the optimum characteristics of a data entry device, obviously such a device should minimize the human effort incident to the entry for recordation of data. Thus, by way of example and as discussed briefly above, the data entry device should have the capability of signifying an input, for example a lengthy name of a pharmaceutical, through a single action on the part of the operator thus saving not only the anguish of correctly spelling the name but also saving the time which would otherwise be required to enter a large number of characters. As noted above, previous keyboard type data entry devices could allocate such a single lengthy function identification to single keys only by resort to exceedingly large keyboards. It would also be highly desirable, in the interest of minimizing operator effort, to provide some form of "check off" list on the face of the data entry device which would either serve as a reminder to the operator of items which might be entered for a given application and/or guide the operator through a logical sequence of items to be checked off. In many cases it is desirable to program a logic processor associated with a data entry device so as to produce an indication that a given choice of category of item, if necessary, has not been selected. Thus, by way of example, if insurance data is being furnished to a logic processor by means of the data entry device and if the operator did not mark either "male" or "female" in the sequence of entries, the operator should be advised of his omission directly from the data entry device. Prior art data entry apparatus has lacked this "check off list" or "sequencing guidance" capability.
It is to be noted that data entry devices have on occasion been used to input graphic information where the information has been in the form of line segments. However, those entry devices which have received graphic information have been characterized by requiring an exceedingly dense configuration of activation points per square inch. This activation point density, in turn, has increased the expense while simultaneously reducing the reliability of the devices.